Brush having a head of gathered net material

ABSTRACT

A brush including a handle having a distal annular groove at one end and an adjacent enlarged circumferential attachment surface, an elongated strip of net fabric gathered along one side edge and wound about and secured within the distal annular groove, and a second elongated strip of net fabric gathered along its medial portion and wound and secured about the enlarged attachment surface and against the first strip.

United States Patent [191 Breland [451 Dec. 9, 1975 BRUSH HAVING A HEADOF GATHERED NET MATERIAL [76] Inventor: Dorothy S. Breland, 1209McCullough Ave., Huntsville, Ala. 35801 [22] Filed: Jan. 14, 1975 [21]Appl. No.: 541,422

[52] US. Cl. 15/225; 15/209 B [51] Int. Cl. A47L 17/04 [58] Field ofSearch..... 15/209 B, 225, 226, 230.13,

[56] References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS Oehrle et al. 428/4 X2,468,686 4/1949 Sax 15/225 X 3,205,519 9/1965 Nowlin et al..........15/209 B X 3,663,981 5/1972 Du Crest et al. 15/225 PrimaryExaminer-Daniel Blum Attorney, Agent, or FirmHarrington A. Lackey [57]ABSTRACT A brush including a handle having a distal annular groove atone end and an adjacent enlarged circumferential attachment surface, anelongated strip of net fabric gathered along one side edge and woundabout and secured within the distal annular groove, and a secondelongated strip of net fabric gathered along its medial portion andwound and secured about the enlarged attachment surface and against thefirst strip.

4 Claims, 5 Drawing Figures BRUSH HAVING A HEAD OF GATHERED NET MATERIALCROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATION This application is animprovement over applicants co-pending US. patent application Ser. No.376,914, filed July 5, 1973, now US. Pat. No. 3,877,105 issued Apr. 15,1975, by Dorothy S. Breland for BRUSH HAVING A HEAD OF GATHERED NETMATE- RIAL.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION Nowlin et al Day DuCrest et al Sep. 14. 1965Aug. 22, 1967 May 23, 1972 The attachment of a gathered, elongated,open-weave net material around an annular groove in an elongated handleis also disclosed in applicants prior co-pending US. patent applicationSer. No. 376,914.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The brush made in accordance with thisinvention is an improvement over applicants co-pending application Ser.No. 376,914.

This brush device includes an elongated handle having at least oneannular groove adjacent the end portion and an adjacent enlargedcircumferential attaching surface. At least two elongated strips ofopen-weave net material are gathered by stitching a strandlongitudinally of the strip to form a seam. In one strip of material,the seam is formed along one side edge, while in a second strip, theseam is sewn along the middle or longitudinal medial portion of thesecondstrip. The first strip is wound about the end of the handle bywinding its strand or seam tightly circumferentially about and withinthe distal annular groove. The strand is secured in wound position,preferably by adhesive means at each end, such as glue. The second stripof gathered material is wound circumferentially about the enlargedattachment surface with its strand secured, preferably by adhesive, suchas glue, to the attachment surface. One gathered side edge of the secondstrip is located to abut and intermingle with the distal or free sideedge of the first strip, so that both wound, gathered strips formsubstantially a ball of brush material on one end of the handle.

As a modification of the brush, a third elongated strip of the same netmaterial is gathered along one of its side edges and wound and securedby adhesive or glue around the handle adjacent the attachment surfaceand on the opposite side of the attachment surface from the distalannular groove. The location of the wound strand of the third strip issuch that the free edges of the third strip engage and intermingle withthe adjacent free edge of the second strip to form a more complete ballor spherical brush. In this modification, a second proxi- 2 mal annulargroove may be formed in the handle on the opposite side of the enlargedattachment surface from the distal annular groove for receiving thewound strand of the third strip.

By providing multiple elongated strips gathered along the respectiveside edges and medial portion, a larger amount of gathered material isconcentrated in a smaller space to provide a stiffer, more rigid, andstronger brushing surface.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS FIG. 1 is a side elevation of a brushmade in accordance with this invention with the brush head shown insection;

FIG. 2 is a fragmentary side elevation of a sidestitched, gathered, netmaterial used in the brush;

FIG. 3 is a fragmentary side elevation of a medially stitched strip ofnet fabric used in the brush;

FIG. 4 is a fragmentary perspective view of the handle to which areinitially attached three of the gathered fabrics prior to winding; and

FIG. 5 is a view similar to FIG. 4 disclosing a modified form of thebrush.

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS Referring now to the drawingsin more detail, FIGS. 1-4 disclose one form of a brush or brush device10 including an elongated handle 11 upon one end of which is mounted abrush head 12.

The brush head 12 disclosed in FIG. 1 includes a distal, wound, gatheredfabric strip 14, an intermediate, wound, gathered fabric strip 15, and aproximal or rear, wound, gathered fabric strip 16. These strips 14, 15and 16 are so gathered, wound and positioned as to form a substantiallyspherical compact brush head 12 on one end of the handle 11.

One end of the handle 11 includes a distal annular groove 18 having itsfront or distal end terminating in a small, annular, distal cap orflange l9 and its rear or proximal edge terminating in an enlargedsurface forming the distal face 20 of a disc-like shoulder. Theperiphery of the shoulder forms an enlarged circular attachment surface21. Behind or on the proximal side of the shoulder may optionally beformed a second or proximal annular groove 22. terminating forwardly inthe proximal face 23 of the disc-like shoulder. The annular groove 22terminates at its rearward or proximal end in a shoulder 24 in the mainbody of the handle 11.

In FIG. 2, the front strip 14 is disclosed as being gathered along oneedge portion 26 by a thread or strand 27 sewn or stitched longitudinallyof the fabric 14 and substantially parallel to the one edge 26, bydrawing taut the strand 27. The material 14 is puckered into multiplefolds 28 to reduce the effective length of the fabric strip 14 so thatthe strip 14 preferably has a minimum gather ratio of approximately 5 to1, that is a flat length five times greater than the gathered oreffective length. The elongated fabric strip 14 is made of syntheticfiber net material, and preferably an openweave nylon net material. Atypical length of a strip 14 would be approximately 288-504 inches, inits ungathered, flat condition, with a width of approximately 3 7inches. After the strand 27 is tightened, the effective gathered lengthwould be approximately 57 to inches, respectively, but preferably about30 to 60 inches, respectively.

The elongated, gathered fabric material 15 is disclosed in FIG. 3 asincluding a strand or thread 30 stitched or sewn longitudinally of thefabric strip 15, medially thereof or approximately halfway between itsopposite edges 31 and 32. The strand 30 is drawn taut to gather thefabric strip 15 into pu'ckered folds 33 and 34 on opposite sides of thetaut strand 30.

The fabric strip 15 is preferably made from the same material as thefabric strip 14, and also is stitched to have a minimum gather ratio ofapproximately 5 to l. The stitching of either the strand 27 or 30 may bedone manually or by a sewing machine.

In the form of the brush disclosed in FIGS. 1-4, the third or proximalfabric strip 16 is gathered and stitched in the same manner as thefabric strip 14. The fabric strip 16 is stitched with a strand 36adjacent one side edge 37 to form the folds 38 in the fabric strip 16,thus providing a folded or puckered free edge 39 (FIGS. 1 and 4).

In order to assemble the fabric strips 14, and 16 upon the handle 11,one end of the strand 27 and the adjacent portions of the fabric strip14 are secured by an adhesive material, such as glue 40, to the surfaceof the distal annular groove 18. The strand 27, as well as the adjacentportions of the fabric strip 14, are then lap-wound continuouslycircumferentially about themselves and the annular groove 18 until thewinding is complete. Then the outer end portions of the strand 27 andthe adjacent portions of the fabric 14 are secured by adhesive material,such as glue 4], to the next inner adjacent layer of fabric material 14.The fabric strip 14 is wound so that the stitched edge 26 is adjacent toor abutting the shoulder face 20, and the opposite edge 29 projects in adistal direction beyond the flange 19. Thus, the edge 26, as well as thestrand 27, is wound tightly upon itself so that the remainder of thefabric strip 14, although also wound upon itself, flares outward into asubstantially conical shape producing a convolution of undulating fabricedges 29 to provide an effective brushing or scouring surface.

One end of the strand 30 and the adjacent end portion of the fabricstrip 15 are likewise secured by adhesive material such as glue 42, tothe attachment surface 21 and the strand 30 and medial portion of thefabric strip 15 are tightly wound upon themselves circumferentiallyaround the attachment shoulder surface 21, as illustrated in FIG. 1. Theouter end portion of the strand 30 as well as the adjacent end portionof the fabric strip 15 is secured upon the next adjacent layer of fabricmaterial 15 by an adhesive material, such as glue 43. The effect of thetight winding of the medial portion of the fabric strip 15 permits theremaining gathered folds of the material 15 to fan out in both axialdirections, flaring not only axially, but also radially of theattachment surface 21. The attachment surface 21 is located close enoughto the annular groove 18 that the distal lap-wound corrugated orpuckered edges 31 will abut and intermingle with the edges 29 of thefabric strip 14, as well as intermingling with its own flared edgeportions 32.

One end of the strand 36 as well as the adjacent end portion of thefabric 16 is also applied by a spot of adhesive material or glue 44 tothe surface ofthe proximal annular groove 22 in the same manner as thestrand 27 of the fabric 14. The fabric 15 is then wound upon itself andthe outer end of the strand 36 as well as the adjacent end portion ofthe fabric 16 is secured upon itself to the next adjacent layer by meansof adhesive material or glue 45.

The fabric 16 is wound about the annular groove 22 so that its freeruffled or puckered edge 32 is directed oppositely from the edge 29 ofthe fabric 14. The ruffled edge portions of the fabric 16 also flaregenerally axially in a proximal direction to assume a generally conicalshape, but in abutment with the gathered and flared intermediate fabricmaterial 15. The ruffled edge 39 of the fabric 16 also accumulates aboutthe handle 11. Thus, the tightly wound gathered fabrics 14, 15 and 16are so positioned that their outer free ruffled edges generally have theshape of a ball or sphere, as disclosed in FIG. 1.

In the brush device 10, it is possible to secure the proximal fabricstrip 16 to the handle 11 without the proximal annular groove 22. Inother words, if the cylindrical surface of the handle 11 continued untilit intersected the shoulder face 23, the strand 36 could be wound aboutthe handle surface adjacent the attachment surface 21.

The annular groove 22 of the brush device 10 could be omitted andreplaced by an annular raised portion or boss projecting radiallyoutward from the handle 11, a distance up to, but not exceeding, theradius of the attachment surface 21.

In FIG. 5, a modified brush device is disclosed including a handle 51and a brush head, not shown in completed form, but which would resemblethe brush head 12. The brush head in the device 50 would include thesame distal fabric material 14 and intermediate fabric material 15, butwould omit the fabric 16. In the brush device 50, a distal or frontannular groove 53 is formed adjacent the free end of the handle 51, thegroove 53 being bounded by a distal annular cap or flange 54 and anenlarged shoulder 55. The shoulder 55 has a larger diameter than thediameter of handle 51 over most of its length. The attachment surface 56is generally conical or tapered inward from the shoulder 55 in aproximal axial direction to merge with the constant diameter handle 51.

In the modified brush device 50, the strand 27 is secured to the annulargroove 53 in the same manner as it was to the annular groove 18 of thebrush device 10, and wound and secured in the same manner as the fabric14 is in the brush device 10.

The strand 30 is secured by adhesive material in the form of glue 58 tothe tapered attachment surface 56 and wound in the same manner as it isupon the attachment surface 21 in the device 10. The wound and gatherededges 31 of the fabric strip 15 will not only flare radially outward,but axially distally to engage and intertwine with the undulating edges29 of the wound gathered fabric strip 14 in the same manner as they doin the brush head 12 of the device 10. In the modified brush device 50,the wound puckered edges 32 are free to flare more fully, and not onlyengage their own edges 31, but also flare toward, engage, and surroundthe handle 51.

The combination of the nature of the material, such as synthetic ornylon open-weave net material, the gathering of the material tightly,and particularly when the minimum gather ratio is at least five to one,the further tightening of the material by winding itself about eitherone edge or the middle, and the proximity of the location of the woundportions of the two or three fabric strips provides an extremelyeffective brush head 12 or a brush head of device 50, which will berelatively stiff, rigid and long-wearing, yet sufficiently yieldable asnot to damage the surfaces to be cleaned or brushed. The arrangement andstructure of the fabric strips 14 and 15, and optionally 16, in thedevices 10 and 50, respectively, will provide a heavy concentration ofstiff bristly brushing surfaces within a minimum of space.

When the fabrics l4, l and 16 are properly gathered and wound, it isdifficult to detect the juncture lines between the edges of therespective fabric materials because of the tightness of the winding andgathering of the material and the interdigitation of the merging foldsof adjacent fabrics l4, l5 and 16. The exterior appearance of the brushhead 12 is that of a sphere or ball of a single gathered material havingits gathering force in the center of the sphere.

Both devices and 50 have been successfully used as tub brushes, commodebrushes, lavatory brushes and clothes brushes. However, it is evidentfrom the com struction of the brush devices 10 and 50 that they are notlimited to the above uses.

What is claimed is:

l. A brush device comprising:

a. a handle including an end portion having a longitudinal axis and afree end,

b. said end portion comprising a distal annular groove coaxial of saidlongitudinal axis and adjacent said free end,

c. an attachment surface extending circumferentially and coaxially ofsaid end portion adjacent the proximal end of said distal grooveopposite said free end,

d. a first elongated strip of synthetic, loose-weave, net material,having first and second side edge portions,

e. a first strand sewn the length of and along said first side edgeportion of said first strip, gathering said strip at spaced points alongsaid strip, thereby shortening the effective length of said strip andcreating an effective thickness normal to the unh. a second elongatedstrip of synthetic, loose-weave, net material, having first and secondside edge portions,

i. a second strand sewn along the length of and medially of said firstand second side edge portions of said second strip, gathering saidsecond strip at spaced points along said strip, thereby shortening theeffective length of said second strip and creating an effectivethickness normal to the ungathered surface of said second strip,

j. said second strip being lap-wound around said end portion of saidhandle, said second strand being wound circumferentially around saidattachment surface so that the first side edge portion of said secondstrip projects distally toward and against said first wound strip, andthe second side edge portion of said second strip projects generally inthe opposite direction of said first side edge portion of said secondstrip,

k. second means securing said second strip wound around said attachmentsurface.

2. The invention according to claim 1 in which said circumferentialattachment surface comprises a shoulder having a circumferential extentsubstantially greater than the circumferential extent of said distalannular groove.

3. The invention according to claim 1 further comprising a thirdelongated strip of synthetic loose-weave net material, having first andsecond side edge portions, a third strand sewn the length of and alongthe first side edge portion of said third strip gathering said thirdstrip at spaced points along said strip, thereby shortening theeffective length of said third strip and creating an effective thicknessnormal to the ungathered surface of said third strip; said third stripbeing lap-wound around said end portion, said third strand being woundcircumferentially around said end portion proximally of said attachmentsurface, the first side edge portion of said third strip projectingdistally, and the second side edge portion of said third strip flaringproximally and against said second strip, and third means for securingsaid third strip wound around said end portion.

4. The invention according to claim 3 further comprising a proximalannular groove coaxial of said longitudinal axis and adjacent saidattachment surface on the opposite side from said distal groove, saidthird strand being wound circumferentially around said proximal groove,and said attachment surface having a greater circumferential extent thaneither of said annular grooves.

1. A brush device comprising: a. a handle including an end portionhaving a longitudinal axis and a free end, b. said end portioncomprising a distal annular groove coaxial of said longitudinal axis andadjacent said free end, c. an attachment surface extendingcircumferentially and coaxially of said end portion adjacent theproximal end of said distal groove opposite said free end, d. a firstelongated strip of synthetic, loose-weave, net material, having firstand second side edge portions, e. a first strand sewn the length of andalong said first side edge portion of said first strip, gathering saidstrip at spaced points along said stRip, thereby shortening theeffective length of said strip and creating an effective thicknessnormal to the ungathered surface of said strip, f. said first stripbeing lap-wound around said end portion of said handle, said firststrand being wound circumferentially in said distal groove, and saidsecond side edge portion projecting distally from said attachmentsurface, g. means securing said first strip wound around said endportion, h. a second elongated strip of synthetic, loose-weave, netmaterial, having first and second side edge portions, i. a second strandsewn along the length of and medially of said first and second side edgeportions of said second strip, gathering said second strip at spacedpoints along said strip, thereby shortening the effective length of saidsecond strip and creating an effective thickness normal to theungathered surface of said second strip, j. said second strip beinglap-wound around said end portion of said handle, said second strandbeing wound circumferentially around said attachment surface so that thefirst side edge portion of said second strip projects distally towardand against said first wound strip, and the second side edge portion ofsaid second strip projects generally in the opposite direction of saidfirst side edge portion of said second strip, k. second means securingsaid second strip wound around said attachment surface.
 2. The inventionaccording to claim 1 in which said circumferential attachment surfacecomprises a shoulder having a circumferential extent substantiallygreater than the circumferential extent of said distal annular groove.3. The invention according to claim 1 further comprising a thirdelongated strip of synthetic loose-weave net material, having first andsecond side edge portions, a third strand sewn the length of and alongthe first side edge portion of said third strip gathering said thirdstrip at spaced points along said strip, thereby shortening theeffective length of said third strip and creating an effective thicknessnormal to the ungathered surface of said third strip; said third stripbeing lap-wound around said end portion, said third strand being woundcircumferentially around said end portion proximally of said attachmentsurface, the first side edge portion of said third strip projectingdistally, and the second side edge portion of said third strip flaringproximally and against said second strip, and third means for securingsaid third strip wound around said end portion.
 4. The inventionaccording to claim 3 further comprising a proximal annular groovecoaxial of said longitudinal axis and adjacent said attachment surfaceon the opposite side from said distal groove, said third strand beingwound circumferentially around said proximal groove, and said attachmentsurface having a greater circumferential extent than either of saidannular grooves.